FBI: Boston bombing first set for July 4

Investigators also want to learn about older suspect's call to wife

2:29 AM,
May 3, 2013

Suspects Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, center right in black cap, and his brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, center left in white cap, are seen 10 to 20 minutes before bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon on April 15.

Written by

Kevin Johnson
| USA Today

The suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing had originally planned to strike July 4, but chose the race because it coincided with the time they had finished assembling their explosives, law enforcement officials said Thursday.

According to hospital interviews with surviving suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev shortly after he was captured, the suspects apparently finished constructing the explosives well before they had originally planned and chose to act sooner rather than wait, said one of the officials, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.